Central travels to Muskogee County Friday night when the Tigers meet Warner in an important District A-8 high school football contest.

The game at Eagle Stadium is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

The Eagles lost their first game of the season last week in Tulsa, dropping a 39-7 decision to independent Lincoln Christian.

Warner is 3-0 in the league and Panama is 4-0. Central is 3-1 in the district and in third place.

Curt Denton is the head coach at Warner, and some of his key players on offense are quarterback Tim Denton (5-foot-9, 180-pound senior), running backs Jacob Anderson (5-8, 175, junior) and Daniel Ashley (5-11, 210, senior) and wide receivers Taylor Mead (5-11, 165, junior) and Chance Tate (6-3, 180, senior).

Anderson has scored nine touchdowns in 2006 and last week he ran for a 26-yard TD.

"Anderson is extremely fast and shifty," Central head coach Wade Couch said. "They run sweep and zone with him in the backfield and try to get him the ball on the edge, and if he's lined up at wide receiver they try to get him the ball deep. If anyone else is in the backfield they'll run power right at you.

"On defense we can't let them big-play us. That has been our achilles heel of late. We have to eliminate that, play stiff defense, swarm to the football and tackle well."

Other Warner standouts on offense are guards Emanuel Smith (6-3, 280, senior) and Nate Jackson (6-2, 250, senior), tackle Jacob Ireland (6-0, 240, junior) and center Carey Matthews (6-0, 220, junior).

Smith, a nose guard, and Ireland, a defensive tackle, are two defensive players Couch has noticed.

"They'll put Emanuel Smith on our center and bull-rush him," Couch remarked. "He's 6-3, 280, and the best-looking kid we've seen all year. He's fast and physical. Jacob Ireland is really good and one of their best defensive players. He's solid. We will have our work cut out for us but I think we'll step up to the challenge."

Couch is not certain what defense Warner will use against his Tigers on Friday night, but he believes he knows what their goal is: stop the run.

"Their defense is kind of an enigma," said Couch. "They ran a four-man front against Quinton and last week against Lincoln Christian they ran a three-man front. They will try to force us to throw the football.

"We can't have turnovers against Warner. We had a fumble in each of the last three games and we can't give Warner cheap opportunities. We have to make them earn every bit of it. We have to come out clicking on all cylinders and play four quarters of mistake-free football with few penalties. I feel confident that we will."

Central tailback Ike Edwards has rushed for 452 yards and 10 touchdowns on 67 carries this season, and quarterback Stevie Morris has run for 413 yards on 59 attempts and scored six TDs.

Morris has completed 18-of-28 passes for 196 yards in 2006 and wide receiver/running back Josh Small has caught seven throws for 120 yards.

The Tigers defeated Quinton 40-18 last week, their third-straight win, to improve to 4-1 overall, and Couch believes his team is looking forward to Friday's challenge.

"They're hungry and ready to play," Couch said.